Last year, when summer heat got to be a bit much, I wrote about working out in heat. Now the heat is back and dealing with it is once again on my mind. Since hydration is one of key solutions to the heat problems, I figured it would make for a great research subject.
Why should I stay properly hydrated during exercise?
How many times have you heard to make sure you drink enough water? And it’s for both during workouts and generally in your every day life. Your body needs enough fluids to work and when you sweat, you are losing precious water. You are also producing heat when burning calories (I don’t think it’s a coincidence they call it ‘burning’ 😜). When you get dehydrated, you get tired faster, run risk of hear exhaustion or stroke and you increase your risk of cramps (see last week’s post). Think of ‘I want my body to run like a well-oiled machine’, except water is that oil.
What should I use to hydrate?
Besides water? Yeah, most people will just answer with that and move on. It’s not that simple though if you are an endurance athlete. For people who run/ bike for shorter periods of time, especially in milder weather, water would be the logical answer. When you sweat, you are losing sodium as well. Most of us (especially in the US) have plenty of salt in our diets already not to worry about it. If you go for multiple hours in heat though, you will need to replace it. Every pound of sweat contains about 500 milligrams of sodium, but can be as much as double that for heavy sweater. And no, there is no easy way of figuring out if that’s you. Although I suspect that white salt marks on my black clothes after a workout are a hint for me 😜.
How much should I hydrate?
Everybody sweats differently and it depends on the weather, too, so it’s hard to really know what exactly your needs will be on a given day. However, there are some helpful guidelines out there.
Sweat rate
You can figure out your sweat rate. Basically, you weigh yourself naked before an hour long workout and then do the same immediately after. Difference between the two numbers will correspond to how much you sweated out. One note though: take into consideration anything you drank during the workout.
Hyponatremia
Word so fancy that it shows as a spelling error… This happens when sodium levels in your blood become critically low. You sweat out more water than salt relative to your blood composition. This means that if you drink a lot of plain water while you are running/ riding, you are running a risk of throwing off your electrolyte balance. This led to ‘drink to thirst’ trend in endurance sports hydration.
So how much?
Now that you know what hyponatremia is and that you should avoid it, you may be tempted to limit how much water you take in while exercising. Great! One thing though: if you’re going to be out there sweating for 3-4 hours, your salt levels will deplete and that’s a whole new host of issues. Conclusion: once you know how much sweat you will be losing during your race, plan to drink combination of water and sports drinks to replace water and sodium you are sweating out.
Limitation to hydration while exercising
There is a limit to how much water can your body absorb in a given time. This means that if you are running for a long time in heat, you are running a risk of running out of ability to re-hydrate properly. Believe it or not, the answer here lies in proper carb loading. You may have noticed (or read somewhere) that when you carb load, you gain weight faster than what your calorie intake would suggest. That’s because glycogen stored in your muscle keeps water stored in there as well. So if you planned your nutrition right for a few days beforehand, you are already carrying some of the water you will need during your workout.
How should I carry all that water with me?
Running
There are a few routes here, all with advantages and disadvantages (my advance apologies for sounding a bit negative – clearly I am still working on the perfect fit for myself):
- Water bottle – do you like carrying one in your hand? Probably not so much. Also, if you read my post on training with weights, you know that carrying it in your hand impacts how you run and it’s not great. I tend to freeze my water on hot days, so the bottle get slippery. On a plus side, you may be able to find some strap to hold it in place. So it is a solution (although you may run out of water on longer runs).
- Hydration belt – now here you can bring more water and fit your stuff in it, but there are other issues with running with one. Actually, there are two types and one is better than the other. If you are looking at one that is just a belt with room for water bottles, then they are pretty great in terms of fitting and staying where they need to (in my experience). The issue here is that those waters are of very unimpressive size and you will quickly run dry. And then there are the big fanny-pack ones that hold water in a bladder. Have you ever tried to find one that fits well? It’s not that easy. And if it doesn’t fit right, it will chafe (as I mentioned before, I chafe easily and a lot). How about that bouncing?
- Hydration vest/ pack – these can hold a lot of water, which is awesome. You can usually pack some of your stuff in them, too. Finding one that fits right and doesn’t leak – nightmare! First for the issue of leaks: I have learned by trial and error that a bit of cling wrap helps a lot with the seal holding right. I used to have a really good water backpack, but it hit its retirement age and now I can’t find one that would be a suitable replacement 😥. But if you have a good fit – it’s awesome. If you don’t, here is a couple of other issues you may have to deal with: chafing (always!), bouncing and if you are a truly unlucky female with a large pack that hangs too low, you may even end with an occasional bruise. Explain that…
Biking
Ah, all the options you have here! Let’s see…
- Bottles in water cages – that’s a ‘duh’, as many adult bikes have them (or can get them easily installed). Lovely solution. One thing to keep in mind: it takes practice to take them out and then put back in. As a small woman, I also have to pay attention to what bottles I bring, as only the short ones fit under the seat.
- Bottle twist lock – placed where you would usually see a bottle cage, it’s a neat little system with magnets in it. It might be easier to get a bottle out of than pulling it straight up out of a cage…
- Hip flask – I couldn’t believe it when I saw this piece of advice! I usually associate it with alcohol 😅. But when you think about it: if you have pockets on your sides (my tri suit does) or with pockets in your jersey, you have places to hold it. serious style points, but I doubt you can bring much water with you this way.
- Hydration pack – same thing as for running, but you don’t have to worry as much about chafing and bouncing, so you lose the negatives. Something I have learned (obviously, since it’s me: the hard way) though: anything you wear on your back while riding does impact your balance during turns and such. It’s not that bad, but worth a pause before you set out for the first time.
- Hydration belt – and I don’t mean the one that holds water bottles. Those work reasonably well for biking. One thing to learn from my experience (again LOL): make sure you know where the little hose goes. You don’t want it to tickle your leg the entire time. Or to hit it either.
- Pockets – yes, when you are on a bike, you have pockets. Feel free to stuff them with bottles. And if you think yours aren’t big enough, there are options out there for getting extra ones.
- Bottles on aerobars in tri bikes – I recently invested in one and I love it! Obviously, a couple of things I had to learn by experimenting with it… First of all, it turns out that my bars are not attached too tightly. Good thing, too – my water bottle was way too far from my mouth, causing me to have to reach way too far forward and drink in awkward position, frequently leading to swallowing wrong. Fun times… It’s nice not to have to focus on getting the bottle in and out of wherever you are carrying it in, but you can drink out of it only in aero position and that’s something to keep in mind. On the other hand, if you have one of these, you probably have regular water bottles on you, too.
- Behind the saddle bottle cages – these attach to the back of your seat and you can usually shove two water bottles in it. I am seriously assuming that if you are still looking for options, you are either doing ultra distance rides or at least iron distance. So called ‘normal’ people usually don’t need to carry this much water on them…
So are you ready now to stay hydrated on your long runs and bike rides? Stay safe and I will see you out there!